Jewish groups are already analyzing data from last night’s election, as a reported 69 to 70 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballot for President Obama. That figure is based on exit polls and shows a decrease from 2008’s exit poll, when Obama took 78 percent of the Jewish vote. The Republican Jewish Coalition pointed to what it called an “erosion” in the traditionally Democrat-controlled Jewish demographic. “The trend in the Jewish community is unmistakable. In five of the last …More

As college students prepare to hit the polls on November 6 - many for the first time - they will be considering a broad array of policy issues and party platforms. What drives young people to vote? How do they consider various issues? Does Israel play a role in the choices they make on election day? Israel Campus Beat interviewed pro-Israel students on campuses across the country to gauge the impact their support for Israel has on how they are preparing for Election Day. Excerpts from those interviews can be seen …More

Jews and Jewish issues are burning up the presidential campaign viral video charts. The Jewish Council for Education and Research, a pro-Obama group, has had a pair of viral hits. There was “Wake the F**k Up,” which featured actor Samuel L. Jackson and assailed Romney’s domestic policy agenda. It has been viewed millions of times (on various web pages). One recent week it was the most viewed online presidential ad. The runner up that week was an earlier video from JCER, featuring comedian Sarah …More

Mitt Romney surprises everyone at the Presidential debates last night; he’s almost an entirely new candidate. [Jewish Week] The experimental Jewish community in Birobidzhan, Russia may be small, but it’s not going away. [NYTimes] The LGBT community is now described by a similar stereotype used for Jews: one of a non-developed child. [Huffington Post] The Republican Jewish Coalition will spend $2.5 million to run Romney ads in swing states. [Sacramento Bee] Czestochowa, Poland is renaming its …More

The Republican Jewish Coalition launched a $5 million television advertising campaign aimed at Jewish voters in swing states. The campaign started Wednesday and runs through November 5 in cable and broadcast TV markets with sizable Jewish populations in Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The first RJC ad is a shortened version of one of the group’s “buyer’s remorse” videos, which featured disillusioned Obama voters. "This ad highlights the 'buyer's remorse' felt by many in the Jewish …More

Democrats may have put Jerusalem back into their party platform, but the Republican Jewish Coalition is still hammering away at its original omission, the convention hall tumult over its reinsertion and the absence of some other pro-Israel passages that had been in the 2008 platform. On Friday the RJC issued a new print ad highlighting these points. Meanwhile, Democratic elected officials were annoyed at what they saw as a political gift that their party clumsily handed to Republicans looking to attack the …More

Jewish swing voters could make or break President Obama’s bid for reelection. At least that’s the case that Democratic Party leaders made in a training session that packed one of the larger halls at the convention center here on Monday, the day before the formal start of the Democratic National Convention. It came with a message delivered to Jewish volunteers at the convention in Charlotte: Some Jewish voters matter more than others. And when it comes to issues, Israel is especially important -- but …More

The Republican Jewish Coalition's director, Matt Brooks, met with reporters on Wednesday and added details to the group's planned blitz of south Florida and suburban Philadelphia and Cleveland on September 9 and 10, part of the $6.5 million spend he is dedicating to switching over Jewish voters. The glittering prize of the $6.5 million plan, Brooks suggested, was a voters list that hones in on likely switchers and the means to tip them over to the Romney. “We have invested serious resources to develop the …More

The Republican National Convention showed a video highlighting Mitt Romney's commitment to Israel. The one-and-a-half-minute video featured footage of Romney's July visit to Israel and several excerpts from the candidate's speech in Jerusalem. "Mitt Romney believes America shares a deep and cherished relationship with Israel, and like the United States, Israel respects the rights of people of all religions and will preserve the holy places of Christians, Jews and Muslims," the video's narrator said. The video …More

The Republican Jewish Coalition took a close look at the Obama campaign’s newly released list of 600+ rabbinic supporters and is calling on the campaign to sever its ties to one of them. The RJC’s target is Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, a California Renewal rabbi who has endorsed the Palestinian BDS call and is a member of the advisory board and rabbinical council of the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace. She was the only rabbi to speak at a controversial 2008 interfaith dialogue dinner in New York hosted for …More

Get set for a political double feature with much of the same plot, but with different outcomes for the issues that tend to preoccupy Jewish voters. The same key words and themes will bounce around Jewish events at next week’s Republican convention in Tampa, FL, and at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, NC, the week after that: “pro-Israel,” “marriage,” “Jewish vote” and “abortion.” With the exception of “pro-Israel,” however, the content of …More

The US Presidential race is now in full swing, with republican candidate Mitt Romney selecting Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. The choice comes with mixed reactions from the Jewish community. Jewish GOP supporters have praised Romney’s decision to run with Ryan, who many believe has the ability to adroitly and creatively slash a federal budget they believe is out of control. Ryan is the current chair of the House Budget Committee. "Paul Ryan has challenged both party leaderships in …More